Details: I have been getting skunked a lot there recently. Last year I only fished the LLH twice, not sure I caught a trout either time.

This time I fished from the bridge below the flyshop, all the way up to the hatchery road, then worked downstream to the bridge on the other side. Started on fly shop side. Fished zebra midge, als rat, greenie weenie, san juan worm, PT nymph. Not even a nibble.

A few years back I could always count on 4 fish or so on a slow day and 10 to 12 on a good day. For some reason I have not been successful there lately.

I saw two trout caught, both by fisherman at the hatchery pool. I don't dunk a fly there.

On the plus side, it was a beautiful day to get out and I am glad I took advantage of it. Don't get days like this in January often.

What do you mean by bad shape? Flow was good, water clear. I only noticed that there appeared to be less fish. I have done well there sight fishing, and today I saw very few fish. A lot less than in the past, but then I am not normally there in January. Two years ago in early March I has an awesome day, so did my friends. That was previously the earliest I had fished there.

The LL is usually a great place to fish in the winter without having to wade. I like to practice my sight fishing at the LL. I stopped to fish a week or so ago and also noticed a lack of fish. The stream is dependent on the local hatchery for stocking. Stop in at the hatchery and ask them about stocking.

I wouldn't say the stream is in bad shape but I have been catching less fish on average. I think the low water conditions of the summer and early fall are more to blame than anything. I have never caught a fish on a midge nymph there. Pheasant tails,baetis and copper john nymphs always catch fish for me. I fished there Sunday and caught fish on a pink egg and a copper john. I really don't fish eggs much but ran into some guys that were having luck with them so I tied one on. First cast, 18" rainbow. Missed a few more after that with it then had to go home.

the stream does not get stocked there...its supposed to be for wild fish though they stay away from the pressure......its a hard creek to fish because of the pressure..if its clear it can be real difficult, i find i like stonefly's in sz.6 works. and sculpins this time of year...remember that fish you see and are fishin for might have been caught by someone else earlier....they shut down for a while.maybe a day.

I'm not referring to the fish, I'm talking about the river itself. Its very silted up. There was very little aquatic plant growth this summer. The hatches do not seem as prolific as in years past. I just think the development in the area and that hatchery are hurting the fishery, although the hatchery is probably why there remains a decent large trout population due to all the midges that enter the river through the outflows. Don't get me wrong, I still catch a ton of fish there. I haven't caught less than a half dozen fish there in longer than I can remember. It just doesn't look like how I remember it, nor like the older pictures of the fabled stream once looked. I think there are some stream improvements that could be done to help, but the silt problem, I don't know how to fix that.

I agree with most of the threads about the deterioration of the LL. I fished on Monday in the pm, caught one bow on a beetle. That was the only fish I saw caught. Not nearly as many fish evident as used to be. The pressure is enormous--even on the lousiest day the stream is inundated with fishermen. I know a guy who fishes almost every day for at least a couple of hours, weather permitting. He says he sees a lot of poaching going on. Guys taking fish, guys using spinning rods--never sees the game warden patrolling the place. He even tells the story of a guy who owns a restaurant going into the hatchery at night to net fish. Fortunately, he was caught and fined very heavily. I used to love the place, fish very abundant and you could almost always catch between 6 and 10 fish in a days outing. I will now abandon the stream and do my winter trouting elsewhere. There's also a fair number of people fishing there without a license! Again, why can't the place be patrolled more. Rod in the fly shop (still an arrogant sob) still says the fishing is good and refuses to acknowlage that there are a lot less fish than there used to be. I stopped by on Tuesday and couldn't find a parking space. Maybe they should have more stretches on the LL with similar regs with the enormous popularity of the stretch. The bulk of the stream holds fish year round. Maybe that proposal opens pandoras box with a volley of criticism, just my 2 cents. Any thoughts.

One of the reasons the stream appears to have good and bad times is that every few years or so there is a flood that washes some fish out of the hatchery. I saw this back in, I believe, September or October of 2006. The stream overflowed it's banks and the set of hatchery pools that parrallels the stream overflowed. For months afterward there were a large number of fish in the LL down to about the fly shop. They then disipated over the next several months. I seem to remember that a guy at the hatchery told me they lost about 1000 fish.

I think that flood was in the top three all time for the stream but you can see with the settup they have to divert water from the stream to the hatchery it can happen on periodic high water.

I grew up in Allentown near the stream in the 50s and 60s. I didn't fish it then but I did frequent the park and I don't remember the sediment that I see there now. That's definitly a factor.